What is #PMHD?
stem4, a charity that supports young people to build positive mental health, is proud to be the UK founder of Parent Mental Health Day, which started in 2022.
Parent Mental Health Day (PMHD) is an annual campaign launched by youth mental health charity stem4, to encourage understanding and awareness of the importance of parents’ mental health and wellbeing and its impact on the whole family system.
Parents’ and Carers’ Mental Health Resources
Combined Minds is an app developed for teenage mental health charity stem4 by Dr. Nihara Krause, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, to help families and friends support young people with their mental health.
When a child or young person has a diagnosed mental health condition, families and friends want to support them in the best way but also know when to step back.
The Combined Minds app helps families and friends to find ways to provide the right environment to help the individuals they support affect their own change. As important influencers in the lives of young people, this provides positive impact on their mental health.
There are no doubt a number of challenges your children will face as they negotiate life. Helping them develop their resilience to navigate these challenges is an important task of parenting. Whilst resilience might be a trait in some, for the most part resilience is learnt.
Click here for some tips from Dr. Krause, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, for parents to help young people manage stress, uncertainty and upset, learn to problem solve, manage friendships, and get the best of themselves.
The lasting impact of the pandemic, combined with the cost-of-living crisis, has left millions of parents and carers—nearly two thirds of families in the UK—in emotional and mental health distress.
This has led eight in ten (82%) parents and carers to say they feel overwhelmed and unable to cope and lack the resilience needed to overcome their daily struggles. Three in ten (30%) of them feel this way either all or most of the time.
The findings come from a nationwide survey of 2,012 parents and carers conducted by stem4, marking Parent Mental Health Day on 27th January 2023.
Throughout the PMHD 2023 campaign, stem4 provided interested organisations, corporates, and parents’ groups with information packs filled with ideas to shine a spotlight on parents’ mental health. PMHD 2023 encouraged people to reflect on the impact of mental health on their own and their families’ lives and to share thoughts on how to #BuildFamilyResilience towards positive mental health, and take positive steps to make change.
Want to read more?
Read the full results in the press release here.
Three out of four (77%) young people report being unhappy with the way they look (stem4 survey, 2022).
stem4’s survey of over 1,000 12–21-year-olds reveals that negative perceptions and damaging content on social media, combined with pandemic fallout, contribute to a low sense of self-worth and a rise in eating difficulties.
Click here to read the full findings.
Below are some further resources you might like to consider:
- Your doctor/G.P.
- Mind
- Young Minds: Parents Helpline
- Call for free on 0808 802 5544 from 9:30am – 4pm, Monday – Friday.
- KOOTH (online counselling for young people)
- Togetherall (online counselling for adults)
- Samaritans
- Cruse Bereavement Care
- Relate (relationship support)
- Gingerbread (single parent support)
- Parenting Mental Health
(Last updated November 2023)
stem4 Podcast – Episode 4 – Talking about Resilience
stem4’s mental health podcast, Understanding Teen Minds, aims to provide insight into the world of teenage mental health, looking at everything from signs and symptoms to early intervention.
In this podcast episode, stem4 founder and Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Nihara, helps parents and carers understand what resilience is and the steps they can take to create it in both themselves and their families.
Interested in hearing more? Series two of the podcast is designed for the parents and carers of young people. You can find more episodes here and subscribe below.
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